


House of Gold

by tonguetied123



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Galran Keith, I don't have a name for this story, I love romelle guys, If I find one that fits better I'll rename it, Keith and Allura are arranged to be married, M/M, also I wanted Pidge and Keith to meet in the worst way then the two of them become the best buds, and made him a pirate, but they are buds, oh yeah I made romelle a thief, pirate!Lance, so I got sick of the altean lance trope, thats how all of this started basically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2019-06-16 06:25:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15430959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonguetied123/pseuds/tonguetied123
Summary: Keith is the Galran Prince betrothed to the Altean Princess Allura, just weeks before her coronation Keith was kidnapped by a band of bumbling idiots who seem to be the best at getting on his nerves, but they are nothing compared to their captain.____________________Lance is a pirate who has to many outstanding debts to too many people, kidnapping the Prince had seemed the best way to get the money and raise his status from b-list pirate to the a-list. But he didn't realize the Prince would be this big of a pain in his ass.(this was so self indulgent I'm sorry guys, basically I did what I want and nothing makes sense I'm so sorry. I'll try to update more than I have been with my other fics I'm a terrible author I know.)





	1. CH. 1- The Ball

**Author's Note:**

> Oof sorry this was a really really old draft I rewrote randomly and now I'm publishing. I'm pretty sure theres a lot of mistakes on this but I'm to lazy to go back and redo it all again.
> 
> yo if you liked this please leave a kudos or a comment, I know pidge wasn't really in character but I'm jacked up on coffee and annoyance so I think I get a pass this time.

  Keith stared blankly over the heads of people in the vast crowd, over the diplomats and the duchesses and dukes, and out through the window.  The sunset was amazing. Purple looked almost painted across the sky and red and orange danced along its edges. The clouds were colored a pale yellow as they strolled lazily along the horizon. It was even more beautiful because Keith was right up in the clouds looking down on the sun as it fell behind the horizon. 

  The airship he had been rushed into just hours ago was thousands of feet into the air and was as much of magnificent feat at the sunset was. With tall ceilings painted extraordinary colors that depicted a garden filled with the prettiest flowers and the most elegant plants. 

  If Keith hadn’t seen the room almost a million times at this point it would have taken his breath away, now he just looked lazily out the grand window that took up the entire back wall to fight the boredom this party brought to him.  A sweeping staircase stood in front of a window that took up most of the wall. Below the stairs was a dance floor that was bustling with the many blue bloods that had control of the city in one way or another. 

  On Keith's left was his future wife Allura, and honestly if he didn't have her right now he’d probably have a panic attack. She had taken his hand when they had walked in and squeezed it gently before dropping it back down onto his side. Keith knew she was just as terrified of the current situation as him.

  Keith didn’t have to ask her if she was uncomfortable, with the way that many of the older Altean diplomats made her look as if she wanted to hide away with their boasted attempts to impress anyone near. When she got stressed her eyes always looked pinched. Almost as if she wanted to close them and squint at the same time. 

  The ball that was taking place was for her coronation to be Queen of Altea. Which was the one of the biggest cities in the system of Arus, which was one of many systems in this galaxy.  Keith was to be there to watch her father crown her and before that was supposed to go out on the dance floor and mingle with the guests to ‘ _ strengthen the bonds of friendship _ ’. Or so Alfor claimed. 

  Although Keith would have rather gone skydiving without a parachute off the side of the airship, he pushed himself off the balcony that him and his family stood on to go do as what was expected of him.

  He noticed the crowd of ladies who stood at the bottom of the stairs who awaited him. Keith could feel his stomach drop and his feet falter as he stopped on the landing halfway between there and where he had just left. He looked back up with pleading eyes to find his fiance smiling sweetly. She motioned for him to go on and he found the courage to do just that.

  When he walked up to the sea of girls he lost all that courage he had mustered up immediately.

  “Ladies, would one of you like to dance?” before he had even finished his sentence a small girl with bright red hair had pushed through the small crowd and grabbed his hand, pulling him onto the dance floor far away from the surprised girls she had pushed away. 

  To surprised to notice that she had dragged him halfway across the room, Keith finally regained his composure and took in her actual appearance. 

  Although her stature was small and tiny, her presence seemed large. With bright red hair that was elegantly twisted into a bun on the crown of her head. Her large brown eyes didn’t even register him at first as she surveyed the room. Unlike most of the women Keith was forced to interact with at these events this girl had a brain, he could see it in her eyes as he practically watched the gears moving in her head before she turned up to him and gave him the sweetest smile. 

  The smile was nothing like what he had just seen in her face and demeanor, it was almost like a whole new person was standing in his arms. 

  “Hello your highness.”  Keith gave her a polite smile as he tried to maintain a certain distance between them. His arms locked so that she couldn’t come any closer than necessary. 

  “And who do I have the privilege of dancing with?” 

  He could see the hesitation in her face for a second before she confidently smiled, “Katherine, but you can call me Katie.” 

  Keith could feel his mood drop, “Well its a pleasure.” He told her in the coldest voice as he just tried to get through the rest of the dance. 

  He could tell that she was grasping at conversation topics. The musicians were starting to slow as the song came to an end, when Katie suddenly tripped on the hem of her dress. As she fell to the ground Keith rushed to grab grab her so she didn’t hit her head. 

  He missed by seconds and she fell to the floor, she leaned forward and grabbed her ankle and gasped, “I think I twisted my foot!” she cried.

  The crowd around them started to back up around them creating a circle, Keith sighed inwardly and lifted her up until he was carrying her bridal style through the parting crowd.  When they reached the edge of the ballroom Keith could feel everyone's eyes on them, and he wanted to hide away from them all. As he walked down the hallway to the medical wing several guards offered help to which she protested to in a flury. 

  “I may be over exaggerating!” She protested waving a hand in the air as she laughed nervously.

  “Well if thats the case then I’ll be on my way,” Keith bent down to set her on the ground when she tightened her grip on him and clung to him. 

  “No!” Her eyes were wide as he watched the gears in her head turn once again searching for a plan. Keith was honestly tired of her act and wanted nothing more than to just drop her to the ground and lock himself in his room at this point. 

  “Lets, uh” She looked around for a second before her eyes locked on something on the far end of the hallway that led away from the ballroom. “Lets go there!” 

  He followed her line of sight to the indoor garden that was tucked away from the rest of the party. Keith would have dropped her on her ass right then and there had there not been the guards lining the hallways. He shook his head in defeat and just walked to the garden. 

 

¤ ¤ ¤

 

  When they reached the room Keith made a beeline for the first bench he saw and plopped her down before moving away from her to the other side of the path. Crossing his arms and leaning against the wall he watched her check her foot for a second before looking back up at him with calculating eyes. 

  He could tell she wanted something, what it was he had no idea, but just as much as he was tempted to find out what she wanted he was also just as tempted to leave her there twisted ankle or not. 

  “Is your ankle fine?” He asked in a flat voice void of emotion. 

  She looked at him for a second, “.. Yes. It’s fine actually, I was just nervous during our dance.” 

  “Right.” He watched Katie as she started to sit up straighter and her face grew more calculated. 

  “Have you by any chance heard of the Pirate Pike?” Her eyes dancing with excitement. 

  Of course Keith had heard of Pike, though he wasn’t the best pirate, he was someone to fear. Especially with his one armed giant and troll by his side. Some reports recently said he acquired a Altean thief who could sneak past even the world's most advanced security system.  

  Keith of course believed none of this and thought that they were rumors just highly exaggerated to scare children and people who tried to oppose him. 

  “Yes, most people have at this point.” 

  “Well what do you think of him?” She asked curiously leaning back on the bench.

  Keith watched her for a second, trying to see what she was getting at. “My honest opinion?”

  She nodded. 

  “I think he's reckless. I also think that if he would stop spending all of his time making all of those stupid rumors about his one armed giant and his thieves he picks up at every other port he trashes, then maybe he’d make a great pirate instead of seeming like a second rate mockery to others in his line of work.” 

  Katie didn’t seem fazed in the least by his statement, she just seemed to take it in stride as she stood up and walked across the room deeper into the garden, without the limp she had been sporting almost the entire time they had known each other. 

  “While I agree with most of that, I do think you underestimate him greatly.” She walked all the way to the back of the garden to the windows that lined the wall of the room. Staring out of them for a second she tapped on the window slightly with her knuckles. “What is this window made out of?”

  He gave her a confused look, to which she smiled sweetly. “Just curious.”

  Keith was becoming more and more exasperated with this girl the longer he was in her company. “I would think its a least bullet proof. I wasn’t the one who made the ship.”

  “Hm,” Crossing her arms she looked out the window once again before turning around and surveying the room around them. Several trees lined the area around them creating a half circle with benches between each of them. 

  “The person who created this ship definitely deserves a thumbs up. But I’m sure they could have done better.” Keith watched as she reached into a pocket inside of her dress he hadn’t noticed beforehand and pull out a small device with a button on it. 

  Pressing the button she spoke into it, “I’m ready, east side” 

  Keith walked up to her side with long strides and grabbed her hand before she could get rid of the device and wrenched it from her hand. “What did you just do?” 

  “Stand back your highness we’re in the blast zone.” She frowned at him and tried to pull her hand out of his and back to the tree line away from the window. 

  Keith had finally had enough of her, he was going to have her locked up in prison forever at this point, he kept a firm grip on her wrist and started to call for the guards when he heard glass shattering behind them and he was knocked over. 

  Katie had pushed him over when he was distracted by the glass and pulled his arm behind his back straddling him until he couldn’t move. 

  “Pidge!” A man called out to her from the hole in the window out of Keiths line of sight. “You actually did it! I didn’t think you would but you did!” 

  “Shut up Hunk and grab him, he’s heavy.” For a split second she let go of him and Keith tried to take this moment to run, before he even got off the ground a hand grabbed the scruff of his suit and lifted him into the air. 

  He swung and punched the air trying his hardest to get away when he finally got a look at who held him captive. A large man with a bright orange headband smiled at him warmly and laughed at his attempts to flee. Behind him, keith saw they had broken the window by throwing a heavy grappling hook the size of his head through the glass and latching it onto one of the trees on the side, a rope connected to it leading down to something that was out of sight. 

  “He reminds me of an angry kitten!” The man chuckled before tucking Keith under his arm as if he was nothing. 

  Keith looked up to scream obscenities at him when he saw Katie tearing her dress off. First she kidnaps him and then she shreds away her clothes, at this point Keith was certain that she was raised by savages or cavemen of some sort. 

  “Next time your wearing the dress!” She exclaimed before using the skirt to slide down the rope out of sight leaving Keith and the man alone. 

  “Fat chance!” The man looked at Keith again, “Ok we’re going down now, I know this isn’t ideal but if you don’t want to get dropped please don’t squirm when we’re going down.” 

 "Put me down!” Keith screamed at him, calling for the guards or for help as much as he could. Through all the chaos Keith swore he heard heavy footsteps coming down the hallway. They were so close, just a few more seconds and they would save him from this whole mess. 

  “Hang on tight!” The man yelled as he grabbed the rope he had fastened and jump out of the hole in the window and out into the air. 

 


	2. CH. 2- The Attack on Altea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the wait guys. I got really busy there for a minute (lies I forgot I even had this story)  
> But heres the long awaited second chapter! Leave a comment telling me what you liked about this chapter or if you want to scream about this to me privately heres my tumblr :) 
> 
> https://obsessed-sorry123.tumblr.com/

The party that lay before Allura was so painstakingly boring that she had taken to counting random colors on the wall. How many men with blue ties? How many aliens from this quandrent?

 _‘45 gold dresses’_ , she thought to herself as several different ambassadors tried their best to hold her attention in the conversation.

She turned to look down the stairs and noticed the group of young women waiting for her fiance to join them, she laughed silently to herself as she looked over to Keith to see him absentmindedly looking out the massive window on the other side of the room.

She tapped his hand with hers and smiled at him nodding to the girls below. He grasped her hand for a second before he slowly walked down the stairs.

Allura smiled to herself when she saw him being yanked onto the dance floor by a small redhead before turning back to the ambassadors to talk about how trade has been in their sectors.

 _‘At least one of us is having fun._ ’ She thought as the music swelled for the beginning of another dance.

Turning her attention back to the conversation she noticed a man of tall stature walking towards the small group. Some of the men made room for him as he greeted all of them.

“Ambassadors! Enjoying the party?” His long white hair was pulled back in several small braids but he was dressed in full armor unlike the rest of the party. Several of the men surrounding Allura were obviously put off by his presence.

One of the more braver men of the circle spoke up with contempt in his voice. “Yes actually, as would be assumed, parties thrown by the royal family are usually ones to be enjoyed.”

Lotor’s gaze narrowed slightly on the man for a second before he smiled even wider and turned his gaze to Allura. “Well if the hostess is one as great as Allura I’m sure that they would be parties that people talk about for ages.”

Allura smiled slightly before waving her hand to dismiss him, “Actually my father is hosting this particular party.”

“Forgive my mistake Princess.”

“No need. But I would like to ask what city you hail from?”

Lotor’s chest puffed with pride, “New Gale your highness, its lovely this time of year especially since the new city center was constructed.”

“Well then I must tell the Prince that we should visit at some point before others figure out about this gem.” Allura gave him a bright smile as she noticed out of the corner of her eye the other ambassadors slowly forgoing all pleasantries.    

“I heard that there has been riots in New Gale, General?” Ambassador Gedral asked with a probing gaze.

Lotor looked taken aback for a moment before gaining his composure. “Well you see not all cities are as perfect as one like Nova Aores Ambassador. But New Gale is working to change its current state to be more peaceful unlike other places.”

Allura almost choked on her drink as she watched the man stare at Lotor with a open mouth before excusing himself silently and slinking off into the crowd.

The rest of the men all looked as if they had had enough of his presence and one by one all made some excuse before wandering away from the Princess and the General. Allura led him to the edge of the balcony as they looked out over the party. Setting her drink on the railing she turned to Lotor.

“How did you even know enough about Nova Aores to make such a quip? If I may ask.” Allura said.

He smiled softly before turning his attention to the window. “I like to keep tabs on all crumbling cities so as to not be seen as a unintelligent leader. Knowledge is power Princess, haven’t you heard?”

Allura laughed to herself when they were both interrupted, a cry erupted from the dance floor. A small circle had formed around Keith and his mystery dance partner as she laid on the floor looking small and helpless.

They both watched as Keith made quick eye contact with Allura before sweeping the girl up in his arms and rushing out of the room, the girl talking the whole way, until they disappeared down a hallway.

Lotor chuckled lightly as the party continued on as if nothing had happened. “It seems the crown Prince isn’t as great with the ladies as the rumors say.”

Allura gave him a confused look, “Rumors?”

General Lotor stopped laughing and looked as if he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “I um- I mean there are certain stories that rotate around the court and to the city leaders about how the Prince is known for his… charm.”

All thought seemed to stop in Allura’s head as she tried to think of at least one time Keith had been able to successfully flirt or attract a girl without hers or anybody else's help.

She couldn’t think of any.

Allura tried to maintain her composure but her giggles were to hard to hide as she almost doubled over in laughter.

“Keith- Keith is not the person I would think of as a lady killer.” She giggled.

General Lotor was obviously amused by all of this and was about to say something when Coran walked up behind them and coughed slightly to gain their attention.

“Coran, I was just talking to General Lotor about th-”

“Yes, Princess I’m sorry to interrupt you and the General but King Alfor needs to speak with you at once.” From behind his bushy moustache Coran’s eyes looked at her with worry.

Allura nodded once before handing Lotor her drink and smiling at him one last time. It has been lovely talking to you General, next time I’m in New Gale you must give me the grand tour.”

Lotor looked at her for a second, gazing into her eyes before smiling and pulling her hand in for a kiss. “Yes of course my Princess. Till next time we meet.” He walked off into the crowd without looking back and Allura did the same.

¤ ¤ ¤

King Alfor was standing in his room packing documents and papers into a briefcase and chests when Allura knocked on the door.

“Father, Coran said you needed me?”

Alfor turned to his daughter and Allura watched as his eyes crinkled sadly as he watched her walk into the room. “Daughter, I am so sorry. Its the eve of your coronation and I know we had planned for me to be here until the ceremony but the civilian riots have been getting worse in the west and I am needed there!”

Alfor held her head softly between his hands before pulling her into a tight hug. “Father its alright, me and Keith can manage the castle and all affairs until you return. Is Coran leaving also?”

“No, no of course not. Coran would worry to much to be able to do anything if he was away from either of you during this.” Alfor pulled away from her and returned to organizing his papers. “I’ll only be gone for a short while, hopefully me being there puts some spring in the leader’s step to getting this whole thing controlled!” He grumbled.

Allura laughed quietly, but couldn’t help looking at her father as he arranged his desk back into shape. His whole being seemed to sag more lately, the wrinkles on his face more prominent. The wear and tear was showing on his body and Allura could practically see the timer sitting above his head.

Allura could tell her father was stressed about the condition of his kingdom as of late, especially with all the unrest the pirates were creating along the western borders.

Looking up one last time with a smile, Alfor laid one hand on his daughters shoulder. “I’ll be home before you know it sweetheart. Just you wait, when I come back we’ll fill the halls with juniberry flowers! Not a single inch of space won’t be covered and we’ll have a grand feast!”

Allura laughed at her father’s words as they walked to the door and down the hall to the loading bay where Coran was seen yelling orders to crew members.

“Load the cargo in the back! Make sure the King’s chambers are spick and span! Or I’ll have you all fed to a weblum!” Coran threw up his hands in anger and attempted to fix the mistakes of one of the workers. “No! Not like that!” 

Alfor looked to Allura one last time before patting her once on the shoulder. “Just you wait, the grandest feast since the dawn of time!”

“With as much meat and nunvil as we can eat!”

Alfor waved his hands theatrically as he walked up the ramp to his airship, “Till we puke my darling!”

Coran walked up next to her, not quite content with how the state of things were as he wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders. “He’ll be back soon Princess. That is, unless the crew doesn’t manage to mess things up.”

”The people who fly this ship are some of the most skilled men and women in all of Altea Coran.” She smiled.

”I know. It’s just hard to see him go, I just needed a moment to make sure he’d be fine.” Coran frowned slightly as they watched the ship start up.

They stood quietly for a moment before Allura reached up and gripped his hand reassuringly. “Father will be back soon and all of this war will stop. It has to.” 

“I know.” Coran said softly.

They both stood there in silence for a minute as they watched the ship lift up and out of the hangar. When it was almost out of sight Allura turned to return to the party when she noticed a small ship approaching the royal airship to fast.

She watched in horror as her father’s ship was shot down from the sky.

“No!” Her screech filled the hangar as the doors burst open and she was grabbed by strange hands and pulled through the door.

The last thing she saw before the large doors closed was the ship falling out of sight and to the ground thousands of feet below them.

¤ ¤ ¤

Keith watched from the only window in the small room he had been thrown in as the battle raged on outside. Orders, some in english others in alien languages Keith couldn’t recognize, could be heard outside.

Thumping feet and screams of pain could also be heard and every time he heard the cries of pain his heart thumped louder.

 _‘How did any of this happen?’_ Looking around the room for anything he could to help him out of his current situation of being tied up and locked inside of a small room. His eyes fell on the jagged small screws that stuck out of the main pole in the middle of the room. He shimmied across the floor before propping himself against it.

 _‘This isn’t going to work._ ’ a voice in his head told him. _‘Its to small to cut anything.’_

“Maybe I’ll get lucky…” he muttered to to voice as he tried to cut the rope.

He heard the same voice as the man who had grabbed him outside the door, he was talking to someone in a rushed tone. “Pike this isn’t going to work!”

“Hunk trust me, once we get the Princess and the Prince out of here without a scratch on them He’ll ignore everything that happened in the past! He swore on it!”

The moment the man said anything about Allura Keith gave up on the screw plan and moved closer to the door to hear their conversation better. Pressing his ear up to the door he tried to hear anything else.

“Seriously, trust me. Once we pull this off we’ll be scotch free.”

There was only silence for a couple of seconds before a loud sigh, “Fine if your so confident about this. But how are we going to get Keith on his airship? The guards have us seperated.”

“Don’t you worry my good man, I have it all figured out. We’re going to join the big man on Theyserix and make the tradeoff there!”

Keith felt his stomach drop. He was being traded between pirates as if he was livestock instead of a person, and now apparently they had Allura. He wanted nothing more in this moment than to be back in his room, he knew that this party would have ended terribly. Why didn’t he follow his gut?

His thoughts were interrupted by a small cry that he couldn’t understand through the thick wood. Before he heard the retreating footsteps of the two men outside the door.

“Yeesh who spit in her nunvil?” One voice asked.

Using the wall, Keith pushed himself up to a standing position and returning back to the window he had been looking through to see if he could see any sign of the Princess on the other ship.

Finally after waiting what seemed to be forever Keith saw a man in brown clothing hang from one of the ropes connected to the ship. All of his focus was on a man standing on the edge of the other ship.

Somehow through all the confusion all fighting died out and the screaming stopped just in time for Keith to hear his chilling words.

“Be ready Pike.”


	3. Sorry Bros

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've been a bad author

So uhh... yeah, I didn't think anyone actually liked liked this story so I took a break for a minute and kinda... acquired a boyfriend?

Started Senior year and have mostly just been dealing with college stuff, so like totally forgot this story existed! BUT! Great news!!

**I'm BACK!!**

And here to give you more chapters, the next chapter should be out within the next couple of weeks, probs by Monday or after Thanksgiving (which btw happy thanksgiving you guys)

If you can be a little patient you'll have your pirate and prince boys back and back to hating/loving each other!!

(btw my boyfriend says hi, he thinks its a little silly I write voltron fanfic but is so proud of me cause of how well this is doing and I am ecstatic about how well it's doing so like bear with me bro bros)

_~Erin_


	4. CH. 3- The Escape

Lance was tired. 

That was all he could really say at this point. He was tired of the ‘upcoming war’, he was tired of being the leader and above all, he was tired of being stuck in Lotor’s grasp constantly. Even when he was just mere feet away from freedom, Lotor always blamed something else on him and locked him up again. 

But him, sitting here up in the crows nest and staring out at the clouds and the sky. He watched the clouds part as his ship glided past slowly. This was what he wasn’t tired of, flying his ship around and being with his crew. Knowing that wherever he went he would still be able to do anything he wanted. 

And all of that would be able to happen constantly once they turned over Prince Bratty to Captain buttface. Lance smiled and giggled a little bit under his breath. 

Then the giggles turned to chuckles, then to laughter. Before long Lance laid back on the wood and had a full-blown fit as he laughed so hard tears came to his eyes. He was so  _ close. _

He could practically taste freedom, that's how close he was. Just a breath away. 

With a massive grin on his face and a pep in his step, Lance swung and slid his way back down to the main deck to see all of his crew looking at him with mixed faces of fear and sadness. 

Lance looked at them all for a second in bewilderment, why weren’t they all as excited as he was? They would all be free in just mere days. He came to his sense and clapped his hands. “Back to work, I want the whole ship flying at mass capacity until we arrive.” 

He pointed out into the crowd, “Rolo, Nyma, and Pidge I want you all to help look over the course, Hunk get dinner ready and make it extra special! We’re eating fancy tonight boys!”

The crew gave him a weak cheer before all going about their business. All except a small group in the middle of the deck including Shiro, Pidge and Hunk. All staring at him with equal expressions of anger and disappointment. 

“Guys! Come on! It’s time to celebrate!” He waved his arms around him as he gave them the biggest smile he could. 

“Your cabin.” Pidge glowered, “ _ now. _ ” 

She stalked past him without giving him another glance, Hunk and Shiro following behind her as Lance gave them a confused look. He walked in behind everyone and closed the door. 

“Ok, what's wrong Pidge.” He didn’t turn around to look at them yet, his hand still on the doorknob. The weight of the day finally setting in. 

“What the  _ fuck do we do now Lance? _ ” She asked. 

“I-I mean yes I would like to know exactly what our next plan of action is, but not in such a mean tone.” Hunk said tentatively.

Lance stayed silent for a minute. The plan? Their next step? Lance had no clue. 

He opened his mouth to say something but stopped, he needed to think about this. He turned to look at them finally to see them all in different states of worry. 

He looked away quickly and headed to his desk, pulling out and unraveling the map he had and busying himself by setting weights on the corners. 

“Our next plan of action… Right.” He muttered. 

He scratched the back of his neck as he looked down at the map, “Well y’see our plan is… give… the Prince to Lotor?” 

“Is that a question or an answer Lance,” Pidge asked bluntly. 

“A-a answer. We’re giving the Prince over to Lotor in three weeks. We’ll meet at Theyserix and we’ll hand over Prince bratty mouth and everything will be over.” Lance tried to sound reassuring but it didn’t seem to be working because Shiro walked over and looked at the map over his shoulder. 

“If we take the route that I’m pretty sure we’re on right now, we’ll hit the mountains and get stranded.” His stood at least twice Lance's height at this point and even though the way he spoke was calm and gentle, Lance still felt slightly intimidated. 

“We’ll use this route, when we get to the mountains we’ll switch courses and go around it. Other than that there's nothing in our way. We’ll be fine.” 

Once again he didn’t think he sounded as reassuring as he could be, but he pushed away from the desk and swung open the door. “Now, Hunk why don’t you start on our victory dinner?” 

He gave them the widest smile he could muster before walking out on deck. 

 

¤ ¤ ¤

 

Keith hadn’t slept at all, it had been a day from what he could tell outside his small window, and Keith had spent that entire time trying everything he could think of to break his restraints. Nothing had worked so far but that wasn’t going to stop him. 

There had been a screw that jutted out on one of the walls and Keith had tried to use it to cut the rope but that hadn’t worked. He tried to gnaw through the rope but that hadn’t worked either. 

At the best of his abilities, he had searched the whole room only to find it was a whole lotta nothing much to his dismay. 

He sat there for what felt likes hours, and what was probably minutes, just staring at the room trying to figure out a plan. He knew that even if he managed to get out how would he get away? And the other pirates had Allura, anything he did would come back to hurt her. 

Everything he did right now mattered greatly, and also didn’t matter at all if he didn’t find something to do. 

After a while Keith gave up in frustration and slumped against the ground. His hands over his eyes, he let out a long sigh. 

‘What exactly am I supposed to do now?’ He asked himself. His eyes felt heavy and his body felt exhausted after spending the last day in the most stressful situation possible. 

Eventually, he fell into a fitful sleep on the hard floor surrounded by random supplies and miscellaneous items.

 

¤ ¤ ¤

 

Keith woke to the sound of footsteps coming downstairs. They were loud and heavy on the old wood. 

Before he knew what he wanted to do, he was already jumping up for action. He slinked behind the door frame as a last minute decision as the person walked into the room. The man who had grabbed him in the garden with the orange headband walked in with a smile on his face and food in hand. “Hey, Prince-y dude? I’ve got some food for yo-”

Before he could finish his sentence Keith jumped from behind the door and wrapped the rope binding his hands around the man’s neck. Jumping onto his back and straddling him. 

“No-” He struggled to say.

The man flung his arms around in an attempt to grab at Keith, dropping the food in his haste. The plate made a loud clanking sound on the ground that made Keith grind his teeth together harder. 

He yanked and pulled on the rope, hoping and praying he would go down soon. Before long Keith could feel his movements become sluggish before he fell to his knees finally. 

Spying a knife on the man’s side, he grabbed it from him and whipped around to sprint out the door. When suddenly the man bear hugged Keith from behind and smashed him against the wall. 

“Shiro! Romelle! Anyone please!” He yelled up the stairs. 

“Let me go! I am the Crown Prince of Altea!” Keith screamed at the man as he tried to push away from the wall in another attempt to fight him off. 

“No way, you're like a tricky little squirrel!” 

Two different footsteps came sprinting down the stairs and Keith saw out of the corner of his eye a small blonde girl skidding into the room. Her elaborate clothing was waving around behind her as she tried to take in the situation she had walked into. 

“Hunk are you ok?!” She yelled at the man pinning Keith down. 

“Yeah, I guess? This dude is seriously tricky Rommy.” 

Next came a man in basic armor and a worried expression, his hair was all black except for a white patch that fell in front of his face. “Hunk! What happened!”

“I don’t know!” Hunk yelled back at them. “Get Lanc-uh Pike!”

“Gotcha!” The blonde went running out of the room and disappeared onto the deck as the new stranger bent to pick up the mess caused by Keith and Hunk’s fight. 

“Release me!” Keith pushed on Hunk again trying to wriggle out of his grasp. 

“Ha! Fat chance of that!” Hunk pulled Keith away from the wall and set him down on the ground next to the other man. “Here Shiro, tie him up while I hold him. I don’t wanna take any more chances.” 

 

¤ ¤ ¤

 

Lance stood on the top deck with Nyma and Rolo looking down at the map, his mood soured after his confrontation with his friends earlier that morning. 

“Nyma look, I know you're the engine expert, but I’m the route maker. We can’t just go around the mountain, we’ll be delayed by at least five days! Even if we had the fuel to do it in the first place it wouldn’t work because on both sides we could take the natives that live there hate us!.” Rolo pointed at two different places on either side of the map to make his point. 

Nyma flipped her hair over her shoulder and glared at him. “Rolo, I’m going to try and explain this to you simply.  _ We can’t do it.  _ We can’t go at a higher altitude without losing consciousness, and we can’t stay at our current altitude because we’ll go flying right into the mountain peaks. We  _ have  _ to go around.”

“We don’t  _ have _ to Nyma, you're not listening to me-”

“I’m not listening? If it wasn’t for me reminding you of the boat’s max height and altitude level then we would have died on the shore of Trelana!” She threw her arms into the air in anger as Rolo dropped back into his seat with his arms crossed. 

“You  _ know _ we don’t bring up Trelana.” He said in a low tone, eyes narrowing at her. 

Lance had had just about enough of these two at this point and wanted to just call off the entire route and plan a new one. Even though it was highly unlikely that they would even be able to find any way to Theyserix without coming in contact with the mountain. 

“Well fine, if you don’t want to listen to reason maybe Lance will!” Nyma turned her fierce gaze to Lance as she looked for support. 

“Well what’ll it be Captain Lance, we going around like idiots, or over?” 

Lance looked up at them in surprise as he was pulled away from his clouding thoughts. “Uh… I guess-”

They all turned when the door suddenly slammed open to show a very out of breath and wild looking Romelle. 

“Captain we have a problem! Its the Prince!” She exclaimed out of breath. 

“For fuck's sake,” Lance ran his hand through his hair and pointedly looked at Nyma and Rolo. “We’re going through the mountains, plan for the trip while I deal with this.” 

He pushed himself out of his chair and stalked out of the room. Romelle right on his tail babbling on about how Prince bratty had attacked Hunk when they tried to feed him and almost knocked him out. 

She rambled the whole way across the deck and as they went down the stairs to the room they kept Keith. Outside of the room Hunk sat slumped against the wall with a hand on his throat while Pidge tended to it with some kind of cream. 

Lance stopped for a second and knelt down next to Hunk, “You good buddy?” he asked softly. 

Hunk nodded at him before pointing into the room, “The little squirrel almost got me with my own knife, ha.” He laughed softly. 

The comment made Lance see red, he turned away from his best friend and looked at the doorway. “Your off breakfast duty, Romelle your the little shit’s personal guard from now on. Wherever he is, you are.”

He walked through the door before either could answer and slammed the door open. Looking down he saw the Prince tied up with Shiro sitting on a box near him. 

Meeting the Prince’s eyes, Lance contemplated whether or not killing him would mess up the deal. “You.”

Keith looked up and smirked at him,  _ smirked,  _ making Lance’s blood boil even further. “What you thought I’d just sit here waiting to die?”

Lance grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him off the ground, “I expected you to not attack my cook!” He shook him. 

The Prince looked at him and laughed, his eyes practically daring Lance to do something to him. “Well, then you're fucking dumb.” 

Lance threw him against one of the boxes on the ground, “Listen here  _ your highness _ , this is a Pirate ship. That means we aren’t legally or morally obligated to give two shits about you. If we want to hurt you, we’ll hurt you. If we want to kill you, we’ll kill you.”

Keith’s smile turned to a glare as Lance talked. His eyes darkening as he spoke, “Unless you want us to give you up at the end of this journey  _ dead _ then you better shape the fuck up.” Lance turned around and held the door for a second before he looked over his shoulder to glare at the Prince once more. 

“Or else.” 

He was a sight to see at this point, his once perfect hair was a mess and his clothes were wrinkled and dirty. His expression was one of anger and resentment as Lance realized he had bright purple eyes. 

Lance stared at him for a second more before he slammed the door closed leaving Keith in the room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dear jesus it's been awhile, sorry guys I've had a pretty shit school year. I'll try and update this more, but yeah we're starting a part of the story that I'm really excited to write.


	5. The Song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm a bad writer, I know I really know I swear. 
> 
> My year has been the shittiest year you could have, the boyfriend I previously talked about is now my ex and I ended up having to use legal action against him to get him to leave me alone. This affected my mental health and made it difficult to even go to school or do anything let alone write this story.   
> But that was almost six months ago and I'm going to therapy now and I've been diagnosed with a lot of stuff and I'm working on making myself better. I'm not promising regular updates just yet, I am graduating currently and have to deal with family members and stuff in the next coming weeks so I won't be able to write for a good long while, but I can promise that I plan on finishing this piece of shit at some point. 
> 
> Again I'm really sorry about all of the long pauses that I've taken between each chapter but I'll try my best in the future to get these out in bigger batches at least I guess.

Everywhere around Lance was dark, a thick smoke surrounding him making it hard to see and even harder to breathe. Every breath was torture and killed his lungs as he took stumbling steps forward into the unknown. 

He wanted to call out. 

For help, to anyone. But something told him that no one would hear his calls nor care if he did. The further he walked the harder it was to stay calm. His mind raced and the ever more present feeling of being watched became known to him. 

Lance walked for longer then he knew until suddenly his foot hit something solid. He froze and looked down before staggering back into a fallen heap. 

He screamed and kicked away from the body and frantically tried to crawl back up to a standing position to run away from the familiar face, but the ground pulled and grabbed at him. 

Sinking him further and further he heard a voice that made his skin crawl and sent him into an even greater panic. 

“Sleeping well?” Through the smoke, Lance could see tailored boots appear out of the darkness as they stepped closer and closer to him until they stopped right in front of him as he froze and looked up to meet the eyes of Lotor. 

“ _ Pike _ .”

Giving Lance a sickening grin, He leaned down and grabbed him by his hair. He yanked Lance into the air and away from whatever he was using as a grip before throwing him into the unknown. 

 

_*_

 

“No!” Lance shot up in his bed flailing wildly. When his eyes focused he saw a frightened Hunk standing at the end up his bed leaning away from the knife Lance had pointed at his neck. 

“Heh, h- hey bud if you really didn’t want me in your room you should have said!” Hunk gave him a nervous chuckle as Lance dropped the knife on the covers and ran his hands through his sweaty hair. 

Staggering out of the blankets Lance tried to collect his thoughts. “I’m- I’m sorry Hunk, I didn’t mean to! I didn’t know it was you and I just freaked and I didn’t know what to do.” 

From the other side of the room, Hunk gave Lance a pitying look before walking slowly to Lance’s side, giving a question motion if he could sit next to him. Lance scooted over to make room for him. 

They both sat in silence for a minute before Hunk spoke again. “Was it home again?”

Lance only nodded. 

Hunk slowly laid a hand on his back before he was soon enveloping his entire shaking body. He held onto Hunk tightly as they waited for his fear to leave him. 

“Once we’re done here, once we get the Prince to Theyserix, we can go back. You’ll be a hero Lance.” Hunk whispered. 

Lance pulled away and stared at his hands for a moment before quietly asking, “Does the crew hate me for what I did?” He clenched his hands into fists, “For  _ everything  _ I’ve done?”

Hunk looked away and stared at the wall for a couple of seconds before opening and closing his mouth. 

“I can’t… speak for everyone else.” He put a cautious hand on Lance’s shoulder, “But I personally am upset with the actions you’ve done.” 

Lance winced slightly. 

“And how you dealt with certain things, but in the end, they were very scary things to do. So I’m proud of you for having the guts to do the things you did when you thought they were good choices.” Lance seemed to calm down as Hunk spoke. 

His hands unclenched and the shaking had subsided now enough for Hunk to stand up and go about his duties. 

He stood there looking around for a couple of seconds before he spoke again, using the pause to choose his words carefully. “I don’t think I could ever be mad at you Lance. Your my best friend and I know we all do stupid things in tight situations.”

Hunk left quickly after that and left Lance alone in the room to his thoughts. He stared at his hands for a long time before he pushed himself up off the bed and attempted to eat what was on his plate before he started his day. 

 

_*_

 

Keith hadn’t had any human contact with anyone besides two people for two weeks at this point, and both of those two people had been horrible to him so far. Romelle was his guard, she stood outside his door at all points in time except for a few hours when she switched off with Shiro. 

The famed Giant wasn’t as giant as Keith thought he would be. Bordering on an almost pacifist demeanor, anytime Shiro brought food to Keith’s door he had a blank expression on his face and a cloak strung across his shoulder hiding his right side from view. 

His hair was bleached white on the front patch that fell in front of his glazed eyes and the only words he would speak was before he would open the door. He’d order Keith against the wall and with Romelle or another crew member blocking the door, Shiro would leave a small plate of food across the room and leave as quickly as he came. 

Whenever Shiro controlled the door Keith had the most peace, but he was also the most bored.

In any normal situation, Keith would say he didn’t enjoy people like Romelle, crass, loud and never shutting up. Through the door almost every twenty minutes he swears he hears her doing some flip or cartwheel in the hallway. He swears that Pike sent her to his door to annoy him to death rather than be his guard at this point because when she isn’t doing some gymnastic flip she’s singing in a silly voice. 

But compared to Shiro, Romelle was a good cellmate. Sometimes when she sang he would hum along with her for a minute before she switched to another song that he didn’t know. 

It’s happened only twice now, but she’s also engaged in conversation with him. The first time she asked him what he would sing in a choir. He told her baritone and she scoffed at him. 

The second time she had been singing some song about a river, Keith asked her to teach him the lyrics and they had gotten all the way through the first verse before Shiro showed up. 

He quietly scolded her on the other side of the door and soon he heard small footsteps walking quickly up the stairs and knew that he had been left with Shiro for the rest of the day. Romelle didn’t have any active duty with him for a couple of days after that. 

That is until now, Romelle had been with him for a couple of hours before she started humming a song that seemed familiar to Keith. To obscure for him to remember off the top of his head, but close enough to his memory that he  _ knew _ he should know this. 

“ _ Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you.”  _ He moved across the room to the door to press his ear right up against it to hear better. “ _ Away your rolling river. Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you.” _

The longer she sang the more it annoyed Keith that he couldn’t pinpoint the song. Romelle had reached the second verse right around the time Keith threw caution to the wind and spoke up. 

“What song is that?” He called through the door. 

Her singing stopped and he couldn’t hear anything for a minute before there was a little bit of shuffling. “What?”

He hesitated for a second before asking again, “The song your singing, what is it?” 

She didn’t speak for a second and he faltered. “It’s familiar and I swear I’ve heard the lyrics before.” 

“It’s Shenandoah, it's just about some dude on the other side of some weird old river. His life is on one side and he complains the whole song about coming back.” He could hear the smile in her voice as she spoke. 

“Well, it sounds pretty. Can you sing some more?” 

She was silent for another second before some more shuffling and then she began the song again. This time singing louder. Once the song came to an end Keith wanted nothing more than to sing with her. 

“Hey, Romelle.” He called to her. 

“Yes?” 

“Will you teach me the lyrics? I picked up on a good majority of it but there's a couple I couldn’t catch.” 

The air between them suddenly felt unsure. Keith could tell he was overstepping boundaries but in the end, he was being handed over whether he made friends with her or not so why not learn to sing a song while he was still alive to sing. 

“I… if Shiro or Lance find out one of us might get in trouble.” She said quietly. 

“For teaching me song lyrics? Like that's going to help me escape in any way.” He scoffed. 

They were both quiet for a minute while Romelle made up her mind before she finally spoke again. “Ok, but only if you don’t do it with Shiro around.”

“Pinky promise” He smiled. 

 


End file.
